Friday, May 5, 2017

Social Media: The Extraordinary And The Ordinary - R2BC

Can't get more ordinary than my old fridge

1Magic Radio
Whilst in London, cooking with my sister for Pesach, we listened to the most amazing radio. Song after song was a fabulous track from my life. Every one a winner. I thought it might be a golden oldies programme on Radio 2. I do listen to Radio 2 on a Sunday if I'm working at home. However, I was told that it's Magic Radio. A whole radio station dedicated to the music I would have chosen myself. Better in fact, as I've forgotten about much of the music I would love to listen to. Anyway, I found it online and I've been listening to it ever since.

2Knorpp and South
Many months ago I started watching this You Tube channel about a wonderful family with nine kids, who sold everything, bought an RV, and have been travelling around America for the past year.

As a mother who can lose her cool and get overwhelmed with one kid who is in full time school, in a home that doesn't move, and surrounded by friends in the community.... I am in awe of how this family functions.

This week they sold the RV and are upping the ante by moving their travels to Europe. I'm psyched. We've all been invited to 'go' with them. When I say all of us I mean me and their other 94,724 subscribers (plus lurkers who watch but don't subscribe). I think our plan is to rent places to live for a month at a time whilst exploring the surrounding area, rather than RVing or camping.

I've already done some more decluttering here so I won't feel like a burden to them. Seriously though, one thing I've noticed about travelling families is that they don't go from everything to one carry-on bag overnight. Often there are a series of downsizing steps which makes the process less painful than you would think. Watching this family over the past year has made me wonder if we could do something similar... maybe.... one day.

3Facebook Hilarity
For Independence Day there were a number of posts on facebook involving lists of 69 things. (It's 69 years since independence, obviously.) 69 wonderful things about Israel, 69 things you didn't know, 69 inventions and innovations, etc....

There were two lists of 69 extraordinary women of Israel. This prompted my extraordinary friend, Sarah, to post this:"I've seen two separate lists so far of 69 fabulous women in Israel.Next year, for Israel's 70th birthday, I'm compiling a list of 70 totally nondescript, average women who've done fuck all with their lives like me. If you'd like to be included in my list, drop me a note detailing your subpar average achievements."
What followed was a hilarious thread lasting several hours, where we fell over ourselves trying to prove how worthy we are of being a total waste of space. Some examples:

Lisa: Oh please can I be on this list? (Notice she is begging.) I'll make you a cake. (And resorting to bribery, thereby guaranteeing a place on the list.)
Me: Lisa, some of us can't bake.

But the highlight of the evening was when Tzipporah wrote: I can peel an orange in one go. Several of us read this as: I can pee in an orange in one go. All over Israel a number of sad women were thinking along the lines of: Is that a camping game? Do you scoop out the flesh first? Why would you want to?

I still keep bursting into laughter when I think about it. Thanks Sarah, for the best evening's entertainment in a long time.

4"In this world, somehow an ordinary life has become synonymous with a meaningless life."

At the end of Sarah's thread someone embedded a TEDx talk by Brene Brown. I've linked to it so you can watch it. Turns out, it's the ordinary that is important and being extraordinary won't shield you from all the things you are scared might happen if you aren't striving for perfection.

I only just found Brene through this fb thread. How could I have missed her? I've been watching self-development videos for months. I spent this afternoon watch more of her lectures and interviews. She's so sensible and clever.

About

At the age of 46 and four years after I started the IVF process, I brought home my beautiful DD. This a blog about a woman for whom not being a mother was unacceptable. Add to the mix that I'm also an Expat, Jewish, British, Israeli (sort of), Single, a Teacher, a Writer, a Homemaker, and you have Midlife Singlemum.

This is mine

All texts and most photographs on this blog are the copyright of Rachel Selby. I sometimes use photographs from Google or Pinterest. I try to always give credit but if I have infringed anyone's copyright please let me know.